For WWE ownership and upper management, there’s zero accountability. Mistakes are only admitted when it concerns something they didn’t want to see work in the first place. “See? I told you Daniel Bryan was too small!” Power gets inherited, married into, or you had it all along. A McMahon can’t possibly be wrong.
That’s why WWE won’t get fixed. “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
WWE’s other enemy is the internet. Most of the “journalists” who cover WWE desperately prop it up no matter how bad it is because if there’s no WWE, there’s no job. Or hobby. Or whatever. The internet wrestling community follows suit.
WWE listens to that. Takes solace in that. “See? They like it?” While neglecting to notice that “they” will like it no matter what.
When WCW was dying, the various creative elements used to listen to the “WCW Live!” internet real audio show. Fan feedback was usually good. If you call an internet real audio show to talk about wrestling, chances are you’re one of those marks who likes it no matter what. Creative would ignore the ratings – IGNORE THE RATINGS! – and use that flimsy reinforcement to continue on the same path.
I don’t know the impetus. But WWE seems to be burying its head in the sand in similar fashion.
There’s always an excuse, of course. Football season. The World Series. When Smoky Mountain Wrestling’s attendance would dip in the spring, Jim Cornette used to blame proms. That was a tough choice for a teenage hillbilly to make: Put out money to rent a tux, or go to Volunteer Slam.
WWE reunited The Shield with no notice, and then followed through with an anticlimax. They took an event that should have headlined a PPV or been teased, well in advance, to pop a number on Raw, and flushed it down the toilet.
WCW gave away Goldberg beating Hulk Hogan for the title in a Georgia Dome that was already packed, on a Nitro that would have done a huge rating anyway. Goldberg chasing Hogan for two months culminating in a PPV title switch would have generated big, big money. But WCW knew better. (So did Hogan. Headlining the Georgia Dome in front of 36,506 resonated with those who didn’t know better. And there never was a Goldberg-Hogan rematch.)
Goldberg then > Brock Lesnar now. But WCW ruined Goldberg.
It won’t end bad for WWE. But it may be ending slowly.
I’m sorry I think WWE is boring. Sorrier still to be in the vast majority.
Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX
